Contact: Kay Fike Jones
An authority on early Jewish history and religion will take his audience to the heavenly realm--figuratively speaking--during an April 17 public program at Mississippi State University.
"The Early History of Heaven" is J. Edward Wright's topic for a 7:30 p.m. presentation in 102 Hilbun Hall. In a recent book of the same title (Oxford University Press, New York), he traces the origins and early development of celestial images as presented in early Jewish and Christian sources.
Wright is director of Judaic studies and an associate professor of Near Eastern studies at the University of Arizona. He holds a doctorate from Brandeis University and completed additional graduate work at Hebrew University and the Harvard University Divinity School.
While at Arizona, Wright has received major teaching awards. He also has been selected for several national and international research fellowships, including a Yad Hanadiv/Rothschild Foundation Fellowship at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In addition to teaching, research and writing, he serves on the board of trustees of Jerusalem's W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research and is a past president of the Society of Biblical Literature's Pacific Coast Regional Section.
His latest book, titled "From Scribe to Seer: Baruch ben Neriah in History and Tradition," soon will be published by the University of South Carolina Press.
Wright's visit is sponsored by MSU's Cobb Institute of Archaeology in cooperation with the department of philosophy and religion and the College of Arts and Sciences.
For more information on Wright's visit, telephone (662) 325-2013.